PM to address natural-farming event amid scientists’ concerns

What is the News?

The Prime Minister will address a National Summit on Agro and Food Processing.At this summit, the Prime Minister will spread basic knowledge about Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF).

What is Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)?

ZBNF is a technique of farming developed by Padma awardee Subhash Palekar of Maharashtra.

It aims to help farmers bring down input costs by shifting away from agricultural chemicals and relying instead on natural inputs, mainly an admixture of urine and dung of native Indian cows.

At the heart of ZBNF is the idea that nearly 98% of nutrients needed by crops are CO2, nitrogen, water and sun which are available naturally and free of cost. The remaining nutrients need to be absorbed from the soil.

Hence, they are converted from non-available to available form through the action of microorganisms and an admixture of cow dung and urine.

However, the technique has not been scientifically validated and there is no evidence to show if it yields added any value for farmers.

More Links Related to this Topic

• Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) – Gains are unsubstantiated
• NITI Aayog organises knowledge sharing workshop on Natural Farming

Source: This post is based on the article “PM to address natural-farming event amid scientists’ concerns” published in Livemint on 14th December 2021.